Sage 100

Ok my GL friends...some time ago I was told that the GL can stay open for 18 months before ""bad things"" happen. Is that still the case and if so in version 2013, what are the bad things?

I thought there was no longer any need to close and that you could leave the GL open forever except if you don't anyone posting to prior periods/years.

The new framework has eliminated this issue as well as the need to close any of the other ""modern"" modules. You do run into issues as Ron describes that you can really muck up your history with a bad date update...... Keep it current so you don't regret it.

Gotcha. Will share with the client.

I don't understand why so many customers ignore a key function of their systems, losing out on important controls and information by not closing their modules. This is a big reason why they have no apparent need for BI.

Too ""hard"" to do, don't need that feature, yada, yada, yada! So hard to demonstrate ways to streamline their business process if they aren't willing to listen to our suggestions. Here is another great one - ""I don't mind rekeying it in Excel"".

..until the new CFO comes in. Then guess who is the scapegoat. I cringe when the new people come in because it's like clockwork as they go through the poor prior procedures and wonder why we weren't in there running their business for them...

The only control of closing modules is limiting posting to prior periods or future periods. Some systems perform that function without ""closing"" the books. I only close SAP once per year to make some screens easier to use as all it does is create special entries that 0 our P&L accounts to retained earnings. All other functions are options in reports filtered by date ranges with YTD or LTD balance forward check boxes.

This is the way Sage 100 is designed to run, so it should be run that way. We in this market should take a cue from large, public companies where there are strict schedules for closing in order to meet reporting requirements. Once this is done, there's no going back. I do consider this to be a very good control.